Account-book.



1 Patented May 16, 1905.

PATENT EEICE.

JAMES H. RAND, OE NORTH TONAWANDA, NEW YORK.

AooouNT-BooK.

SPECIFICATIN forming partiof Letters-Patent No. 790,002, dated May 16, 1905.

i Application iiled NOVGDJSI' 6,1901. Serial No. 81,317'.

f To @ZZ whom it may concern: i

Be it known that I, J AMES H. RAND, a citizen 'of the United States, residing at North Tonawanda, inthe county of Niagara and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Account-Books, of which the followingis a specification.v v

This invention relates to ledgers and similar account-books, and more particularly to bank accountbooks having loose or temporary leaves intended to be removed when the accounts on the same are closed and transferred to a so-called transfer-binder, the removed sheets being replaced by new ones and the cover or binder being used as long as the same remains serviceable.

-The object of my invention is to provide l such books with simple, compact, and convenient index and reference devices and at the same time to divide the book into sections, each of which may contain a comparatively large number of accounts that can be quickly referred to.

The accompanying drawing is a perspective View of an open loose-leaf bank-ledger embodying my invention.

A indicates the usual covers of the ledger or other book, and B the back. 'The leaves which are ruled into suitable columns are preferably loose or temporarily bound in the book by any well-known means,` so that they can be removed when the accounts thereon are closed.

In the construction shown in the drawing the back of the book is composed of hinged sections which are locked in position by suitable catches, and the leaves are removably bound in the book by curved prongs or spurs C, carried by the' sections of the back and passing through perforations in the leaves in a manner common to loose-leaf ledgers. The leaves have straight or plain outer edges andare divided into main groups or sections by main division leaves or boards D, preferably of a stiif material, as cardboard, and each of these main groups is subdivided into two or more auxiliary or sub groups by auxiliary division boards or leaves D. The leaves of each upper subgroup are narrower than those of the companlon lower grou p, as shown, and theauxiliary d1vis1on-board D', which separates these subgroups, extends beyond the outer edges f the leaves of the vnarrow group, but not beyond those of the wide lower group. Each main division-board D extends beyond the outer edges of the leaves of the overlying wide group, cbutfpreferably terminates short of the covers of the book, as shown'. By this arrangement the projecting margins ofeach set of main and those on the corresponding main divisionvboard from 26 to 50. In practice, however, each divisionboard preferably bears fifty numbers, and each main group has a hundred pages corresponding to the index-numerals of the companion pair of main and auxiliary division-boards. v

The leaves of each main group are provided at their outer edges with comparatively short projecting reference tabs c, by which the book can be readily opened to' any desired account and which are arranged opposite or in line with the'corresponding index-numerals on the division-boards I) and D', the tabs being arranged in stepped order at the outer edge of the leaves; so that every tab of a subgroup of leaves is vout of alinement with all of the other tabs of that subgroup.

Each upper auxiliary division-board Dl preferably bears at its head a numeral indicating the particular hundred or other multiple of the corresponding main group.

In the book shown in the drawing the leaves are each divided transversely into two sections or slips, which are separately removable. p They may, however, be divided into a greater number of sections, ifl desired, or some of the leaves may be left whole or undivided and others divided into two or more sections for small and inactive accounts.

In order to refer to an account-say, for example, account No. 11S-the bookkeeper, after turning to the division in which that account is included, simply seizes the tab located directly opposite the number 18 and opens the book at that place, thus finding the account almost instantly.

rl`he division-boards D D are also loosely bound in the book like the account-leaves, and can therefore be removed and replaced by other division-boards, if desired.

My account-book is especially desirable for the usof savings-banks, as such banks usually have a comparatively large number of accounts designated bynumbers.

An important advantage of my improvement is that the bookkeeper upon opening the ledger at the desired section sees before him the index-numbers and tabs of all the accounts of that section, and this advantage is secured without requiring the book to be made ineonveniently high or long from top to bottom. If each section contained but a single group of leaves and a single index-column of the same capacity as a section having groups of narrow and wide leaves arranged side by side, as herein shown, it would obviously be necessary to make the book about twice as long as my improved ledger, and this would render the same inconvenient and awkward in use.

I am aware that prior to my invention aecount-books have been provided with plain reference-tabs and that index-books designed to be used in connection with account-books have been provided with tabs bearing index characters, and I therefore do not wish to claim, broadly, the application of such tabs to the leaves of a ledger.

I claim as my invention- An account-book composed of independent sections of leaves each having appropriatelyheaded columns or spaces for entries indicating the dates and amounts of deposits, checks and balances of each account, each of said sections comprising a group of narrow account-leaves and a group of wide accountleaves extending beyond the outer edges of the narrow leaves, a wide main division-board underlying the group of wide leaves and extending beyond the outer edges thereof and a narrow auxiliary division-board interposed between said wide and narrow groups of leaves and extending beyond the outer edge of the narrow group but not beyond the wide group, each of said boards being provided on its exposed margin with a row of index characters corresponding to the leaves of the coinpanion group, and the leaves of each group being provided at their outer edges with projecting reference-tabs arranged in line with the corresponding index characters of the companion division-board, substantially as set forth.

fitness my hand this 26th day of October, 1901.

JAMES H. RAND.

Witnesses:

JAMES H. RAND, Jr., ADEL/una A. RAND. 

